Howitzer vs Cruise Missile (what?!)

Mod note: moved thread to military news forum.
 
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CatDog99 said:
www.forbes.com

‘Sci-Fi Awesome’—A U.S. Army Howitzer Just Shot Down A Cruise Missile

A U. S. Army self-propelled howitzer firing a Mach-five shell just shot down a cruise missile.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
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Not really earth shattering as it is the same basic principle as the PHALANX Close In Weapons System and the Navy's longtime use of radar guided 5 inch guns for anti air (incl cruise missiles). I ran a course and also taught at the Navy Guided Missiles School a couple of decades ago and then as an industry guy was part of several Government/Industry Guided Missile Study Groups and Missile Defense Improvement Teams that studied this at length. Although BAE's Precision Guided projectiles are important, the real keys to this are Precision Navigation and Timing for the Gun as well as Real-Time High Bandwidth Communications between Sensor, Shooter and Decisionmaker. Whereas the location of a shipboard 5 Inch gun relative to the Ship's sensors is a known and accounted for difference, in the case of SP Howitzers, the location will vary and the comm paths diverge from secure wired to wireless. The precision tracking information required to interdict a cruise missile requires a lot of data movement thus the need for high bandwidth on a priority basis.
 
@OldRetSWO That reminds me of the old Shoe comic strip where Shoe’s little nephew Skyler always winds up in some kind of Marine training instead of a regular kid summer camp. One summer Skyler was on an Amphib float and a Navy Officer explains that the ship’s weapons system can engage 100 targets. Skyler asks what happens if there are 101 missiles inbound... “That’s where you Marines come in”! is the response.....
 
OldRetSWO said:
Not really earth shattering as it is the same basic principle as the PHALANX Close In Weapons System and the Navy's longtime use of radar guided 5 inch guns for anti air (incl cruise missiles). I ran a course and also taught at the Navy Guided Missiles School a couple of decades ago and then as an industry guy was part of several Government/Industry Guided Missile Study Groups and Missile Defense Improvement Teams that studied this at length. Although BAE's Precision Guided projectiles are important, the real keys to this are Precision Navigation and Timing for the Gun as well as Real-Time High Bandwidth Communications between Sensor, Shooter and Decisionmaker. Whereas the location of a shipboard 5 Inch gun relative to the Ship's sensors is a known and accounted for difference, in the case of SP Howitzers, the location will vary and the comm paths diverge from secure wired to wireless. The precision tracking information required to interdict a cruise missile requires a lot of data movement thus the need for high bandwidth on a priority basis.
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That is an excellent post.

Maybe it demystifies the technology upon which the system was built, but there is still a huge wow factor.
 
cb7893 said:
That is an excellent post.

Maybe it demystifies the technology upon which the system was built, but there is still a huge wow factor.
Click to expand...
Oh, I don't think it isn't amazing, just pointing out that the really key technologies were not mentioned.
By the way, I am (among other companies), a former BAE Systems employee and very proud of how they've moved
the systems technology forward. I am not connected with the team on this any longer but I think that this is where
they took the Long Range Land Attack Profile (LRLAP) technologies after that program (for DDG-1000) was cancelled.
 
Reminds me of the development of the Proximity Fuse in WWII. Outside of military geeks, few know about its introduction in WWII, but it was a revolutionary game-changer and gave the US/Britain a huge advantage. Not just in the lethality of air defense, but in logistics as it required far fewer rounds to bring down an enemy airplane. In the vast distances of the Pacific theater, this was huge.

www.wearethemighty.com

The revolutionary fuse that won World War II

Jet engines, air-to-air rockets, drones. World War II was filled with flashy technological breakthroughs that would change warfare, both during that conflict and in wars to follow. But it was one humble piece of equipment that got an early upgrade t…
www.wearethemighty.com www.wearethemighty.com
 
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